Birthday Reflections

(I accidentally posted a rough draft of this yesterday, but this is the real deal)

Once again the air is cooling down and the feel of autumn is in the air. Every year, I mark the beginning of the end of summer with my birthday. I've always been really attached to birthdays - parties, good food, and secret wishes! - but a lot of the time it was lost in the summer's end shuffle and the new school year's beginning. When everyone leaves around your birthday, it can make it hard to actually want to celebrate.

Oddly, as I have aged I have actually embraced celebrating each year more and more, especially this year when I had my Golden Birthday. I've been dreaming of it since my 5th birthday party, and while it may not have been the biggest birthday - it was definitely full of magic and wishes. Each of the 27 days leading to my birthday, I reflected on my life - the accomplishments, what I still want to accomplish, my proud moments, and what I want to improve. This year I made the conscious decision that from now on I would never shy away from my birthday again. No matter what the year is like, no matter how many candles on the cake, if I can't find something from that year to celebrate then some serious inner reflection will be needed. With each year gone by is a new ring on the tree filled with new experiences and accomplishments. While I know there will be hardships and heartache in the future there is always personal growth, times of lightness and the people past and present in our lives to be thankful for - it is our choice what to hold onto.

Of course, it's much easier just to say that I'm celebrating me.

Obviously one of my most important goals this year is to start blogging more regularly. I was excited at first, and gradually grew nervous and overwhelmed as I researched how to have a good blog. I kept running into advice to keep it simple and limited, which isn't quite me. (As a kindergartener, I had 13 careers picked out and the plan to execute them all.) I became confused whether I should limit myself to just writing about music, crafts or could I do both? But then what about cooking or dinosaurs? What about books? Could I just pick one or two things and stick to it? If I don't, will no one read?

Then it was my birthday and I calmed down. Knowing I have people in my life who love me even though I am odd and love lots of different things, then I can have a blog where I write and talk about lots of different things. Otherwise it won't be me, it'll be blog-me and that sounds like swamp burps.

I do have a plan. I'm still working on some goals. I will post at least once a week. And it won't be this long all the time either. But I might talk about dinosaurs and swamp burps every now and again. I feel better getting this out there as a fair warning though. Thank goodness for birthdays, reflection and the end of summer: